PALO ALTO, Calif.  Facebook is giving the profiles of its 500 million members a much more personal touch.

The social-networking giant on Sunday began rolling out a radical redesign of user profiles that is designed to more clearly define the interests of individuals and display relevant information about who they are.

It is also sure to be a powerful enticement for advertisers and marketers, analysts say.

It might also be an invaluable tool in creating richer demographic information about individuals for targeted advertising, says Marissa Gluck, an analyst at Radar Research, who closely follows Facebook.

"There definitely seems to be a push to increase the data in profiles and make them more visual," she says. "The ads are also more prominent and almost have parity with profile info."

Facebook is expected to collect $1.3 billion in worldwide advertising revenue this year, up from $665 million in 2009, researcher eMarketer says.

Facebook's new profile page should curry favor with its developers, too.

The redesign is the latest in a flurry of new features by Facebook in its aggressive pursuit of users and advertisers. Advertising accounts for most of Facebook's revenue, says Charlene Li, an analyst at Altimeter Group.

In recent months, it has revamped its messaging service, added an online check-in application for people to share their location and introduced a groups function for specialized conversations.

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